Got a testing kit today and am wondering why the options include a range of acidic gradients, neutral or alkaline. Why not gradients of alkaline?
As it happens my soil is alkaline but the shade of green doesn't exactly match the option for alkaline so I'm not sure if I'm closer to neutral or very alkaline.
Maybe that's not a big deal and I'm missing the scientific understanding.
I looked up examples online and the colour chart of my kit seems fairly standard. It's even the one used to illustrate a story on soil testing kits on the Gardener's World website. It's a simple
Anyone know why alkaline is just alkaline but acidic has a range?
by RubyRossed
2 Comments
I don’t have a soil test kit but my water testing kit has three indicators for pH covering three different ranges – a wide 3-10, a 7.4 – 9 and a 6.0 – 7.6.
My guess is that this is a limitation of the indicator used and if they are only giving you one indicator they’re giving you the range that is most useful to most people.
So your solution is to find a different test with a different indicator covering the range that matters to you. 🙂
The list of numbers on the left gives you the idea, basically nothing has a lower number higher than 7. That’s probably why the kit is biased that way